Gore mayor Ben Bell silent as Parry 'may' stay on as interim chief executive

Wednesday, 11 October 2023

Gore mayor Ben Bell won’t comment after the council voted to retain Stephen Parry as its interim chief executive until his replacement can be found.

But one councillor has told Stuff that legal action is under way after the latest in a long series of controversial events that have plagued the council in recent months.

The council voted to retain Parry as the interim chief executive in an in-committee meeting on Tuesday night, but Stuff understands the vote was not unanimous.

In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, Bell said Parry was “likely’’ to continue in the role until his replacement was found, and the terms and conditions of Parry’s employment as interim chief executive have yet to be agreed upon.

When contacted for more comment, Bell texted to say the press release would be coming out and he would “be sticking to that for now’’.

On Wednesday morning, councillor Robert McKenzie told Stuff he was “surprised” by the move to retain Parry but would not comment further on the meeting or on how he voted, because there was “some legal s… going on’’.

“We have an employment negotiation going on, so I have to be very careful what I say,” he said.

He would not say what the employment negotiation was about or who was involved.

Parry tendered his resignation in September after 22 years in the role, and he was due to leave the council at the end of this month.

The council met on Tuesday to appoint an interim chief executive, following the resignation of general manager of community lifestyle services Rex Capil on Monday.

Capil was acting chief executive when Parry took extended leave in May, and he had been largely expected to take up the interim role again until a new chief executive was appointed.

The council will meet in committee on Thursday to select a recruitment agency to start the search for a new chief executive. A council spokesperson said recruitment may take up to six months.

Parry’s working relationship with Bell has not been far from the headlines since Bell narrowly won the mayoralty from longstanding mayor Tracy Hicks in November.

Parry and Bell clashed almost right from the start of Bell’s mayoralty, and a month into his tenure the pair were already in mediation and no longer speaking.

Tensions came to a head in May, when protesters gathered outside the council’s offices, urging Parry to resign.

This was after deputy mayor Keith Hovell and councillor Richard McPhail had called on Bell to resign. The two later called for a vote of no confidence in the mayor, which was not passed.

Parry was also accused of bullying former staff members, leading to an online petition calling for his resignation.

In June, Bell took the unusual step of issuing a statement apologising to Parry, saying the media attention had caused “significant disruption, distress and hurt to the chief executive, staff, and councillors’’.